WO2021059024A1

WO2021059024A1 - A child resistant enclosure

Info

Publication number: WO2021059024A1
Application number: PCT/IB2020/050891
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anmol Sood
Original assignee: Anmol Sood
Priority date: 2019-09-24
Filing date: 2020-02-05
Publication date: 2021-04-01

Abstract

A child resistant enclosure is disclosed. The Child resistant enclosure includes a cylindrical enclosure, an outer surface, a side wall of a pre-defined height. The side wall includes a plurality of outer skirts, a first squeeze pad and a second squeeze pad. The plurality of outer skirts is placed between the first squeeze pad and the second squeeze pad. The cylindrical enclosure also includes an inner surface. The inner surface includes a pair of locking lungs fabricated at an upper edge of the side wall. The pair of locking lungs is configured to operate the cylindrical enclosure. The cylindrical enclosure also includes an inner ring housed within the inner surface. The inner ring includes at least four set of ribs on an outer edge of the inner ring. Each of the at least four set of ribs comprises at least three inner skirts.

Description

A CHILD RESISTANT ENCLOSURE

This International Application claims priority from a complete patent application filed in India having Patent Application No. 201911038456, filed on September 24, 2019 and titled “A CHILD RESISTANT ENCLOSURE”

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of a present invention relate to a child resistant enclosure, and more particularly to a child resistant enclosure comprising a double wall squeeze.

BACKGROUND

Child-resistant packaging/ enclosure or CR packaging/ enclosure is special packaging used to reduce the risk of children ingesting hazardous materials. This is often accomplished by the use of a special safety cap. Different types of CR packaging are available. One such type includes one-piece push and turn CR enclosure. Such CR enclosure requires minimal pressure and turn on the CR enclosure to open or remove the enclosure from a bottle. However, such CR enclosures are very easy detachable from the bottle. Due to such limitations, the one-piece push and turn CR enclosure are less reliable as safety of children becomes a compromise.

Another type of CR enclosure includes Two-piece push-and-turn child-resistant (CR) closures which are observed to be safer than the one-piece push and turn CR enclosure. Such CR enclosures have two sections mostly on opposite directions to each other which has to be pushed together and turned in order to detach the enclosure from a bottle. However, such CR enclosure are notorious for being hard to open and reclose because of the poor design of locking lugs, causing user frustration, as well as potential cocked caps during application on the packaging line. Also, such CR enclosures are relatively expensive and less user friendly due to hardness in operating the CR enclosure. In addition, due to the poor design, the CR enclosure leads to misalignment and/or cocked caps, thereby making such CR enclosures less reliable. Hence, there is a need for an improved child resistant enclosure to address the aforementioned issues.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure, a child resistant enclosure is disclosed. The Child resistant enclosure includes a cylindrical enclosure. The cylindrical enclosure includes an outer surface. The cylindrical enclosure also includes a side wall of a pre-defined height. The side wall includes a plurality of outer skirts. The side wall also includes a first squeeze pad. The side wall also includes a second squeeze pad. The plurality of outer skirts is placed between the first squeeze pad and the second squeeze pad. The cylindrical enclosure also includes an inner surface. The inner surface includes a pair of locking lungs fabricated at an upper edge of the side wall. The pair of locking lungs is configured to operate the cylindrical enclosure. The cylindrical enclosure also includes an inner ring housed within the inner surface. The inner ring includes at least four set of ribs on an outer edge of the inner ring. Each of the at least four set of ribs comprises at least three inner skirts.

To further clarify the advantages and features of the present disclosure, a more particular description of the disclosure will follow by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended figures. It is to be appreciated that these figures depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting in scope. The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the appended figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a child resistant enclosure in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a top view representing an inner surface of the child resistant enclosure of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a side view of a side wall of the child resistant enclosure FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a top view of an outer surface of the child resistant enclosure FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a cross sectional view representing of a plurality of threads of an inner ring of the child resistant enclosure FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the figures by conventional symbols, and the figures may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the figures with details that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the figures and specific language will be used to describe them. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the disclosure as would normally occur to those skilled in the art are to be construed as being within the scope of the present disclosure.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such a process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components preceded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices, sub-systems, elements, structures, components, additional devices, additional sub-systems, additional elements, additional structures or additional components. Appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment", "in another embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but not necessarily do, all refer to the same embodiment.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are only illustrative and not intended to be limiting.

In the following specification and the claims, reference will be made to a number of terms, which shall be defined to have the following meanings. The singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a child resistant enclosure. The Child resistant enclosure includes a cylindrical enclosure. The cylindrical enclosure includes an outer surface. The cylindrical enclosure also includes a side wall of a pre-defined height. The side wall includes a plurality of outer skirts. The side wall also includes a first squeeze pad. The side wall also includes a second squeeze pad. The plurality of outer skirts is placed between the first squeeze pad and the second squeeze pad. The cylindrical enclosure also includes an inner surface. The inner surface includes a pair of locking lungs fabricated at an upper edge of the side wall. The pair of locking lungs is configured to operate the cylindrical enclosure. The cylindrical enclosure also includes an inner ring housed within the inner surface. The inner ring includes at least four set of ribs on an outer edge of the inner ring. Each of the at least four set of ribs comprises at least three inner skirts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a child resistant enclosure (10) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The child resistant enclosure (10) includes a cylindrical enclosure (20). As used herein the term “child resistant enclosure” also referred as child-resistant packaging or CR packaging is a special packaging used to reduce the risk of children ingesting hazardous materials. This is often accomplished by the use of a special safety cap. In one embodiment, the CR enclosure may be referred to as a safety cap used to close a container (not shown in FIG. 1-5). In such specific embodiment, the container may be a medicine storage bottle. In such another embodiment, the container may be configured to store object.

In one specific embodiment, the cylindrical enclosure (20) may be a hollow cylindrical enclosure. In one exemplary embodiment, the cylindrical enclosure (20) may be composed of polypropylene. The cylindrical enclosure (20) may be a single moulded enclosure

The cylindrical enclosure (20) includes an outer surface (30) (as shown in FIG. 4). As used herein the outer surface is referred to as a top surface of the cylindrical enclosure (20) which may be used as a safety cap to close the container. Further, the cylindrical enclosure (20) also includes a side wall (40) of a pre-defined height (as shown in FIG. 3). In one embodiment, the pre-defined height of the side wall may be in accordance with a height of the container. The side wall (40) includes a plurality of outer skirts (50). In one embodiment, the plurality of outer skirts (50) may be a plurality of vertical skirts. The side wall (40) also includes a first squeeze pad (60). The side wall also includes a second squeeze wall (not shown in FIG. 1-5). As used herein the term “squeeze wall” is defined as an area on the side wall used to apply pressure by a user to operate the cylindrical enclosure (20). The plurality of outer skirts (50) is placed between the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad (as shown in FIG. 3). In one embodiment, the plurality of outer skirts (50) is placed on either side of the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad. In one specific embodiment, dimension of the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad may be of 10 mm width and 9 mm height.

Furthermore, the cylindrical enclosure (20) includes an inner surface (70) (as shown in FIG. 2). The inner surface (70) includes a pair of locking lungs (80) fabricated at an upper edge of the side wall (40). Further, each of the locking lungs (80) are fabricated opposite to each other. The pair of locking lungs (80) comprises a predefined angle of inclination placed perpendicular to an axis of the corresponding first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad. In one embodiment, the pre-defined angle may be 45 degrees. The pair of locking lungs (80) is configured to operate the cylindrical enclosure (20) upon pushing the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad and simultaneously rotating the cylindrical enclosure (20) with a quarter turn. More specifically, the pair of locking lungs (80) is coupled to a corresponding pair of extension on an external wall (not shown in FIG. 1-5) of the container. Further to operate the cylindrical enclosure (20) from the container, the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad are squeezed/ pressed by the user and simultaneously rotate the cylindrical enclosure (20) to the quarter turn to detach the cylindrical enclosure (20) from the container.

The cylindrical enclosure (20) also includes an inner ring (90) housed within the inner surface (70). A diameter of the inner ring (90) is less than a diameter of the side wall (40). Also, a height of the inner ring (90) is less than the pre-defined height of the side wall (40). In one embodiment, the inner wall (90) may be configured to seal the container by the cylindrical enclosure (20) in order to avoid spilling of object stored within the container. The inner surface (70) also includes at least four set of ribs (not shown in FIG. 1-5) on an outer edge of the inner ring (90). Each of the at least four set of ribs comprises at least three inner skirts.

In one exemplary embodiment, the inner ring (90) may further include a plurality of threads (100) fabricated in a pre-defined manner (as shown in FIG. 5). The plurality of threads (100) is configured to enable the detach the cylindrical enclosure (20) from the container. In such embodiment, the plurality of threads (100) may also be configured to ensure the locking of the cylindrical enclosure (20) with the container.

In operation, the user squeezes the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad and simultaneously rotates the cylindrical enclosure (20) with the quarter turn of a complete circle in anti-clockwise direction to detach the cylindrical enclosure (20) from the container. Upon applying pressure on the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad by the user, the cylindrical enclosure (20) tends to elongate in opposite direction of the corresponding direction of applied force, thereby the pair of locking lungs (80) separate from the corresponding pair of extension of the container to facilitate the detachment of the cylindrical enclosure (20) from the container. Further open releasing the pair of locking lungs (80) from the corresponding pair of extension, the user further rotates the cylindrical enclosure (20) via the plurality of outer skirts (50) in anti-clockwise direction to separate the plurality of threads (100) from a plurality of threads of the container (not shown in FIG. 1-5) to enable the user to open the cylindrical enclosure (20) in order to access the object within the container. Various embodiments of the present disclosure enable the child resistant enclosure to detach only upon applying pressure on the first squeeze pad and the second squeeze pad and rotating the cylindrical enclosure simultaneously, thereby enhancing the safety for children, which makes the child resistant enclosure more safe and more reliable. The developed child resistant closure easily integrates into existing packaging lines and can be adapted and scaled for different products.

In addition, the proposed child resistant enclosure reduces the material weight by at least 40% and thereby the production time/costs by eliminating a second piece along with any assembly. Also, since the cylindrical enclosure is a single moulded part which requires just a quarter turn to be applied and/or to detach the cylindrical enclosure from the container. This severely reduces the potential for misalignment and/or cocked caps, which helps in eliminating the user’s aggravation/ frustration.

While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would be apparent to a person skilled in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein.

The figures and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, order of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts need to be necessarily performed. Also, those acts that are not dependant on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A child resistant enclosure (10) comprising: a cylindrical enclosure (20) comprising an outer surface (30); a side wall (40) of a pre-defined height, wherein the side wall comprises: a plurality of outer skirts (50); a first squeeze pad (60); and a second squeeze pad, wherein the plurality of outer skirts (50) is placed between the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad; an inner surface (70) comprising: a pair of locking lungs (80) fabricated at an upper edge of the side wall (40), wherein each of the locking lungs (80) are fabricated opposite to each other, wherein the pair of locking lungs (80) comprises a predefined angle of inclination placed perpendicular to an axis of the corresponding first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad, wherein the pair of locking lungs (80) is configured to operate the cylindrical enclosure (20) upon pushing the first squeeze pad (60) and the second squeeze pad and simultaneously rotating the cylindrical enclosure (20) with a quarter turn; an inner ring (90) housed within the inner surface (70), wherein a diameter of the inner rings (90) is less than a diameter of the side wall (40), wherein a height of the inner ring (90) is less than the pre-defined height of the side wall (90), wherein the inner ring (90) comprises: at least four set of ribs on an outer edge of the inner ring (90), wherein each of the at least four set of ribs comprises at least three inner skirts.

2. The child resistant enclosure (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cylindrical enclosure (20) comprises a hollow cylindrical enclosure.

3. The child resistant enclosure (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cylindrical enclosure (20) is composed of polypropylene, wherein the cylindrical enclosure (20) is a single moulded enclosure.

4. The child resistant enclosure (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner ring (90) comprises a plurality of threads (100) configured to enable the operation of the cylindrical enclosure (20) from a container.

5. The child resistant enclosure (10) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the pair of locking lungs (80) is configured to open or close the cylindrical enclosure (20) from the container.

6. The child resistant enclosure (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined angle of inclination of each of the pair of locking lungs (80) comprises a pre-defined angle of 45 degrees.